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Z ra by - * . - —- = oe « A=, PAE Sh SO SE ee aS r= oe ee eet Se may eet et pe wake SE se, ee we ee PSN OF, >. ms : PH Ak BE BR OR ye OE ere ee ee toes ee a eben at 4 ee ee a 2 erm + Nef, = hice pmet-ant 5 Y ~ i ‘. ap es et et oe wee ao she ws a aed te mee t—~ =f ~ — th he a ee ae a i ekaea $4 ~~ or EO et ERO 8 nae e Se, Ss =e = esese= wn so A Ot Ot et me kee. lm ee | ty ae oe += ——s = OY et ee om at, % ot ei when. + ak ne em mel = ee ah ah O_O eh om Se eS ee eee * i ed et = eee me AG we wh ee 26 eee, ee -b>t- ~~ =e 8 oF a +e as > tons Beet oe =o o& vas Se SE 3 2 ae, eS ed ed 5 hk Sh ee le te ek ot nt ee ee ee Et ee eth 08 0198.00! 24. =) we o <20 a PEs bee ee TH ce Choate aes ose ee Pere on ie ae we ow oh oe Fe lh Fe ee ont em <4 — - te nh eh a ee ee ee - ee HARVARD UNIVERSITY. LIBRARY OF THE MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. WS: Noack, AS YOY Ns \\ \\d\o . — ce 3 ho SP Sa is re ‘. cat | RELICS:-OF PRIMEVAL LIFE WORKS BY Sirk J. WILLIAM DAWSON, LL.D., F.R.S., etc. Eden Lost and Won. Studies of the Early History and Final Destiny of Man, as taught in Nature and Revelation. 12mo, cloth..... aoeieieiicicieceten aire $r.25 The work is in two parts. Part I. considers the physical and historical probabilities respecting the authorship and authority of the Mosaic books. Part II. treats of man and nature, fallen and restored. The Historical Deluge. Its relation to Scientific Discovery and to Present Questions. 12mo, boards useful.”— The New York Observer. The Meeting=-Place of Geology and History. Illustrated. Lowell Lectures, 1894. 12mo, cloth 1.25 ‘“We commend these lectures heartily to all who are anxious to have a clear understanding of this ime portant discussion.”’— The Living Church. Modern Ideas of Evolution as related to Revela= tion and Science. 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Revell Company New York: 112 Fifth Ave. Cuicaco: 63 Washington St. ToRONTO: 140 & 142 Yonge St. vee ae Reecirnig rats we ye) St -. a i 4 \ | : CRYPTOZOON BOREALE, Dawson. l'wo divisions or branches of a large specimen collected by Mr. E. T. Chambers in the Ordovician of Lake St. John. (See Appendix D.) (/rontis. RELICS OF PRIMEVAL. LIFE BEGINNING OF LIFE IN THE DAWN OF GEOLOGICAL TIME BY SIR J. WILLIAM DAWSON LED: PRS. Er: WITH SIXTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS 7 NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 1897 The substance of a Course of Lectures on Pre-Cambrian Fossils, delivered tn the Lowell Institute, Boston, in November, 1895 Ta AUGUSTUS LOWELL Es@Q Vice-President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Trustee of the Lowell Institute AS THE WISE AND LIBERAL ADMINISTRATOR OF A NOBLE ENDOWMENT FOR THE ADVANCEMENT AND DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE THIS WORK IS DEDICATED WITH MUCH RESPECT AND ESTEEM BY THE AUTHOR PREFACE T is now more than thirty-five years since the announcement was made of the discovery of remains supposed to indicate the existence of animal life in the oldest rocks known to geologists. It was hailed with enthusiasm by some as “opening a new era in geological science”; but was regarded with scepticism by others, in consequence of the condition and mineral character of the supposed fossil, and be- cause of the great interval in time between the oldest animal remains previously known and these new claimants for recognition. Since that fone many new facts have been learned, and the question has been under almost continuous discussion and debate, with various fortunes, in different quarters. Vii Vili PREFACE — The author was associated with the original discovery and description of these supposed earliest traces of life; and has since, in the intervals of other work, devoted much time to further exploration and research, the results of which have been published from time to time in the form of scientific papers. He has also given attention to the later discoveries which have tended to fill up the gap between the Laurentian fossil and its oldest known successors. In 1875 he endeavoured to sum up in a popular form what was then known, in a little volume named “ The Dawn of Life,” which has long been out of print; and in 1893 the matter was referred to in a chapter of his mor “Salient Points in the Science of the Earth.” In 1895 he was invited to present the subject to a large and intelligent audience in a course of lectures delivered in the Lowell Institute, Boston ; and the success which attended these lectures has induced him to reproduce them in the present work, in the hope that inquiries into the Dawn of Life may prove as fascinating to general readers as to those who prosecute them as a PREFACE ix matter of serious work, and that their presentation in this form may stimulate further research in a field which is destined in the coming years to add new and important domains to the knowledge of life in the early history of the earth. Hypotheses respecting the introduction and develop- ment of life are sufficiently plentiful; but the most scientific method of dealing with such questions is that of searching carefully for the earliest remains of living beings which have been preserved to us in the rocky storehouses of the earth. There are many earnest labourers in this difficult field, and it will be the object of the writer in the following pages to do justice to their work as far as known to him, as well as to state his own results. J. W. D. WS : ae.) . i) oe ‘ ont j o Dy EON iets a ts Re et 4 a : ; et hig | LRRD Nag 9 tet ea a Re an Pea | Tite i iketaa SAO ee it) able Spun ake e , a alt eet a een “o ¥ Ae (eae CONWTEN ES I THE CHAIN OF LIFE TRACED BACKWARD IN GEOLOGICAL TIME 5 ‘ : : ‘é A - : ~ . 3 PAGE II LIFE IN THE EARLY CAMBRIAN . ° e e ° oxy 7 ITI PRE-CAMBRIAN LIFE . P - e e e e s. Ay IV FOUNDATIONS OF THE CONTINENTS, AND THEIR GENERAL TESTIMONY AS TO LIFE. - ° ; ° . Pray AS. Vv PROBABILITIES AS TO LAURENTIAN LIFE, AND CONDITIONS OF ITS PRESERVATION . ‘ ef ‘ ° ° «107 VI THE HISTORY OF A DISCOVERY . ° ’ a ’ eke ao THE DAWN OF LIFE . ‘ : : ‘ e ° © 147 Xi CONTENTS VIII CONTEMPORARIES OF EOZOON . ° . : ‘ » 193 IX DIFFICULTIES AND OBJECTIONS . ° ° . e « a xX THE ORIGIN OF LIFE . ° e e e e e 245 XI SOME GENERAL CONCLUSIONS . 4 . ° > o Ser APPENDIX A. GEOLOGICAL RELATIONS OF EOZOON, ETC. . . © 295 B. ORGANIC REMAINS AND HYDROUS SILICATES .. . 298 C. AFFINITIES OF EOZOON, ETC. ee DD CRYPLOZOON i: : = : . ‘ e 310 E. RECEPTACULITES AND ARCHZOCYATHUS . ° « 0 F. PRE-GEOLOGICAL EVOLUTION : : ° ° e 320 G. CONTROVERSIES RESPECTING EOZOON . . . =* B24 H. NOTES TO APPENDIX, DECEMBER, 1896 . ° -agag Etst -OF -ILEUSrRATIONS FIG. PAGE “CRYPTOZOON BOREALE . . .-. .._~—s Frontispiece “ MAP» . : - ° e ° ° “ . Kv I. OLENELLUS ° ° ° ° ° ° . os 20 TRIARTHRUS . ° ° ° e ° a eo 325 HYMENOCARIS . ° ° ° ° ° ° ae 2 CTENICHNITES . ° ° . e e ° 5.132 2 3 4 5,6. ARCHOCYATHUS . . . ; . , <) eAS 8. CRYPTOZOON . ; : . ; ; : S553 9. FOSSILS IN LOWER CAMBRIAN BOULDER . Se 5AM 10. SECTION HANFORD BROOK . : : “ eS 11. WORM TRACKS. : : : - - ° iS 12, PRE-CAMBRIAN FOSSILS . é “ . : 2 eee 13. ARENICOLITES AND ASPIDELLA . : . ache Sree 14. CRYPTOZOON . : : : ° = ° go 156 15. WORM BURROWS . ‘ : ° . Pre Cy 16. CASTS OF FORAMINIFERA ° ° . . a) £08 17. TUDOR EOZOON 2 ; 5 ° ° ° (69 18. LAURENTIAN AMERICA . . - . , OS 19. MAP OF GRENVILLE LIMESTONES . : : J) .toc I9A. ATTITUDE OF LIMESTONE, COTE ST. PIERRE Sie) IE 20,21. -DISTURBED BEDS: . : : : : : 2 og 22. SECTION OF LIMESTONE . i : : j eoria 23. SILICIFICATION OF CORAL ; : : ‘ tase A) 24. CAST OF POLYSTOMELLA IN GLAUCONITE . « «205 aes XIV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIG. PAGE 244A. CRINOID AND SHELL IN GLAUCONITE . . «> 116 25. NATURE-PRINT OF EOZOON . : : - -> cea 26,27. EOZOON FROM CALUMET - ; 4 : « 430 28,29. CANALS OF EOZOON. : . . ° . s 1533 30, 31. CANALS AND TUBULI : . ° . . ¢.-135 32. GENERAL FORM OF EOZOON . ° . e « gg 33,34. EOZOON WITH FUNNELS. ‘ : : «. T52 05s 35. SMALL SPECIMEN AND STRUCTURE a ° « 56 36. DECALCIFIED EOZOON . : ; : ° « BEST. 37. FINEST TUBULI FILLED WITH DOLOMITE . «' “ERe 38. ARRANGEMENT OF CANALS, : - ° . a6 39-41. FINEST TUBULI : : : ees - 160-2 42: “CANALS AFTERBMOBIUS: 3\>) e546 -